


Changing Directions

by tptigger



Category: Diana Wynne Jones - Chronicles of Chrestomanci
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-24
Updated: 2010-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-14 01:19:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/143777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tptigger/pseuds/tptigger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Janet tries to make her way in her new world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Changing Directions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lost_spook](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_spook/gifts).



> Characters and situations are owned by Diana Wynne Jones. No copyright infringement is intended.

Janet Chant had no patience for magic. Michael claimed that it was because she had been raised in a world where magic was the stuff of fairy stories and she just didn't *believe*, but she and Cat had managed to float that mirror, so it wasn't that she didn't believe. It just that she didn't *care*.

Magic, as a rule, seemed pretty boring. Maybe it was the level she was being taught, but it seemed hopelessly impractical, and then add in all the things that Chrestomanci seemed to deal with on a daily basis, and it quite frankly seemed like too much work.

The only reason that she hadn't begged Chrestomanci to let her drop magic altogether was that ordinary levels were required for the University, and she wanted to go to University. But not to study magic. It was *history* that fascinated her. Perhaps because the history of this world was so very different than the world she was born into. Perhaps she was trying to make sense of what had happened to her.

Magical theory, as it applied to the many worlds, was more interesting, though she never quite got *how* Gwendolyn had sealed herself in another world. It didn't matter much; after all it was done and the only way to undo it without someone fading away was apparently to move everyone back. So Janet reluctantly accepted her new life and buried herself into history books. She was surprised how easy it was to talk Michael into teaching her more advanced maths and other things she would need. In fact, when he realized where she was getting her subject list from, he happily drew up a special curriculum and revision schedules. Chrestomanci happily paid for the application fees and transportation when she wanted to go to a regular school for sixth form and above.

Cat never said a word about her goals. He just quietly went along as she looked at universities, cheered her on when she joined the debate team, and otherwise seemed supportive.

There were times when Janet felt that he liked her just because, unlike Gwendolyn, she had no interest in magic, hers, Cat's, or anyone else's. The first indication that he was anything but supportive came years later, when they were moving her into the dorms at university.

"Are you sure you'll be all right?" Cat asked, after he and Roger and Tonino had hauled her things up three flights of stairs and the other two boys had gone down ahead, giving them a moment alone.

"I'll be fine, Cat, thanks for asking," Janet replied. "And you?"

"I think I'll be pretty busy, Christopher has to keep teaching me how to manage the magic of the world, after all. Write and let me know how you're doing, okay?"

Jane smiled, hugging her adoptive little brother warmly. "You too. I want to hear all about the dragons in series twelve or the goddesses in Eleven."

"You'd be best off asking Milly about those," Cat pointed out. He kissed Janet's cheek. "I'd say study hard, but you haven't stopped doing that since you got here. Be well. And remember to have fun!"

Janet chuckled as Tonino came to the door.

"Cat, we've got to get going."

"Take care," Cat said, and with that he left.

At that moment, a girl with a bag slung over her shoulder and someone carting a trunk behind him (Janet thought, absently, that he had a sort of butlerish look about him).

She smiled broadly. "You must be Janet."

"Hermione?" Janet asked.

"Yes," she said, slinging her bag on the empty bed. "Who was that?"

"My little brother," Janet said, figuring the complicated explanations would wait for now, they had the whole semester after all.

Hermione handed her a flyer. "I saw this in the quad. Any chance you'd want to go?"

"The differences in the many worlds and what they tell us," Janet said, reading the title of the lecture. She smiled broadly. "I think we're going to get along just fine, Hermione."

**Author's Note:**

> There is a version of Hermione that belongs to JK Rowling. Her counterpart from another world appears in this story however.


End file.
